Posted on: Saturday, July 10, 2004
COMMENTARY
Classic Brando treasured on 10 DVDs
By Mike Clark
USA Today
We all know "Stel-aaaaah!" and "I coulda been a contender." But Marlon Brando also was the only actor who uttered "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" and classic be-bop biker lingo in consecutive movies.
Most of the top choices for a best-of-Brando retrospective have made it to DVD. Key exceptions are two standouts from the second tier: Elia Kazan's "Viva Zapata!" (1952) and 1953's "Julius Caesar." Here are the top 10 Brando DVDs I'll keep watching:
• "The Men" (1950). Brando's screen debut was smaller in this semi-documentary, as they used to be called, about paraplegic ex-GIs adjusting to postwar life. To prepare for his role, Brando spent time with the real-life injured veterans; it paid off on screen.
• "The Wild One" (1953). Bikers invade a California burg, consume numerous brewskis and play "re-bop" 78s on a jukebox. When someone asks him what he's rebelling against, Brando memorably responds: "Whattaya got?" • "On the Waterfront" (1954). The last and greatest of the Kazan-Brando collaborations. Brando got his first Oscar for ratting out union boss Lee J. Cobb.
• "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961). Brando's only directorial effort, a gorgeous VistaVision Western burdened by delays and cost overruns. • "The Godfather" (1972). Only after a struggle did Brando land the Don Corleone lead in Francis Ford Coppola's Mob epic from Mario Puzo's best seller. Yet Brando's power is so immense that you can feel it even in the 75 minutes in the middle when he's off the screen. Result: a second Oscar — this one refused. • "Last Tango in Paris" (1973). Distraught American male, younger Parisian sex partner, empty apartment and guns and butter. Bernardo Bertolucci's most notorious movie got launched into the mainstream by Pauline Kael's New Yorker rave.
• "The Freshman" (1990). Delightfully spoofing his "Godfather" persona, he befriends both film student Matthew Broderick and a contraband Komodo dragons.
Brando, who died July 1, set the acting pace in the early 1950s, bringing his inimitable talent to disparate roles, each with distinct dialogue.
• "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951). Brando and director Elia Kazan re-created their Broadway smash, with Karl Malden and Kim Hunter returning as well.
• "Sayonara" (1957). A box-office bonanza and best-picture Oscar nominee, this lushly mounted plea for racial tolerance remains a guilty pleasure for those who like their Hollywood romances with a capital "H."
• "Apocalypse Now" (1979). It's a credit to the actor's weight that he made the film's journey a million times more gripping than the prospect of finding, say, a Jason Patric at river's end.
